Sunday, April 28, 2013

It is truly unbelievable, but Naomi has been home with her forever family for ONE YEAR! One year ago today we landed in Memphis as a family of SIX :) Our social worker comes tomorrow to do our one year follow-up. It is just mind boggling to me that a whole year has gone by already. It seems like just yesterday in many ways. It seems as though she's always been with us in other ways. She has come so incredibly far! She's still the sassy, strong-willed little girl that we met last year, only now she is so full of love it brings me to tears. Of course mama is her overall favorite person :), but she sure does love her daddy & brothers too. She has her best of friends (and if you ask her who- she is sure to tell you!) She loves her grandparents & cousins and talks about them often when they are not here. Her speech is coming along beautifully. Her English has always amazed us. She has understood us from day one. She is no longer afraid of animals like she was. She absolutely LOVES to eat :) She loves to play outside and ride her bike. She has had 3 reconstructive surgeries and was put to sleep twice more for stitches removal. She is SUCH A TROOPER! Honestly, she is the very best patient there could be :) She has had to get glasses... and she wears them great! We look at pictures often of our time in China and of Naomi's time at MBHOH. She always smiles & talks about her Ayis :) We received a beautiful gift on Naomi's 5th birthday - a scrapbook of her early years at New Hope Foster Home. What a blessing to have pictures of her as a baby!
We feel so incredibly blessed with the gift of this precious girl..... And we will forever be grateful to the woman who gave her life. We pray that God will somehow, someway give her peace that her baby girl is safe, loved, and with her family forever.

Sunday, February 24, 2013

It's been exactly 10 months since we held Naomi in our arms for the first time. We thought it was about time that we make her gotcha day video :) Better late than never. This brought so many wonderful, painful, grateful memories back. It's hard to believe it's already been almost a year, and at the same time it's hard to remember what life was like without her... She has brought so much zest into our family. Everyone that told us girls were different SURE WERE RIGHT :) She is quite a spunky, strong-willed little thing... but we love her SO...

This video shares some of Naomi's journey to us and some of our journey to Naomi.

Blog Archive

Naomi's Story

Naomi was abandoned on July 4, 2008 in Hebi City, Jun County at the Xiaohe Road Intersection. The Hebi City Jun County Public Service Bureau Liyang Police Station conducted a thorough search, and as they could not locate her parents or other relatives, she was confirmed an abandoned infant. According to her physical condition, her birth date was estimated to be April 20, and she was named according to the generational character for the year 2008 (Yun), and when this baby girl arrived, the weather was very hot, so she was given the name Yun Yan.

Naomi was transferred to Hope Foster Home when she was 8 months old. She had her cleft lip repair & nose deformity on October 30, 2009. She had her cleft palate repair on May 20, 2010. She was sponsored by a wonderful family who gave her the beautiful name, Naomi just after her first birthday. She arrived at Maria's Big House of Hope, in Louyang, Henan, China in July 2010 where she lived for almost 2 years. She was joined with her forever family on April 16, 2012.

Our Adoption Timeline

April 23, 2011: Saw 1st pic of Naomi

April 25: Had our friend Kelly call Show Hope to see if Naomi was "paper ready". Found out her paperwork had been started around April 1st

April 27: Knew for sure God was calling us to adopt Naomi. Emailed Show Hope for more info which was forwarded to CCAI (our adoption agency)

April 29: Filled out a waiting child checklist with CCAI

May 4: Filled out application for adoption
May 11: Application was approved

May 16: Began dossier paperchase

May 31: First Home Study visit

June 20: Home Study complete (waiting on background checks)

July 1: Naomi is prayer focus child for Show Hope :)

July 22: Background checks arrive
July 25: Home Study complete & sent to CCAI & USCIS

July 28: I800A application sent to USCIS for approval

August 12: Recieved fingerprint appointments

August 15: Fingerprinted 20 days before appt date!

August 24: Recieved a call from CCAI that Naomi's file came in "LID Only"